The Box: MultiChoice Announces They are Shutting Down its DStv Service in Malawi
Africa: The battle for streaming in South Africa and eventually across the rest of the African continent has begun. The top platforms participating in the war are Netflix, MultiChoice's Showmax, and Amazon Prime Video. Netflix currently leads and is expected to increase its base later in the year. Disney+ slowly trails behind the top 3, and Warner Brothers has no clear release date for their platform Max.
In the fight between Malawi's regulator and MultiChoice which announced it's exiting DStv from the country after it was denied a price hike. The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) also ordered it to refund all DStv subscribers for adjusting its DStv tariffs without approval.
MultiChoice will leave their subscribers without access to news and entertainment. DStv Malawi is telling subscribers to stop payments for DStv and that all existing subscribers in the country will be cut off within 30 days or less.
MultiChoice has enabled an option for subscribers of DStv decoders to now pay for an additional online watch stream called Extra Stream. Still, it's not yet the Randburg-based company's solution to open back up the one-stream limit it imposed on DStv households.
South Africa's Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) has decided that MultiChoice's streaming service, Showmax can retain the billboard that Showmax used to promote its true-crime content. The ARB received two complaints about a billboard appearing on highways in East London and Johannesburg.
Outlaws, the first contemporary South African western will premiere on Showmax on September 6. Phathu Makwarela and Gwydion Beynon create the series which will star Lehlohonolo Mayeza, Nirvana Nokwe-Mseleku, Siyabonga Shibe, Mmabatho Mogomotsi, Nolwazi Shange, and Thembinkosi Mthembu. The story revolves around two warring families of cattle farmers and cattle rustlers.
The set of eMedia's e.tv TV channels that MultiChoice wants to remove must remain on DStv possibly until the end of 2023, with MultiChoice still not allowed to axe the eExtra, eToonz, eMovies, or eMovies Extra channels.
Asia: Black Tide Island, a historical drama series Taiwanese insight into the Korean War begins production headed by Hakka TV with Go Inside. The series is inspired by the hardships of top medical doctors with extremely limited resources in jail. The series stars Wang Shih-hsien, Tsao Yu-ning, Wu Nien-hsuan, River Huang, and Hsia Teng-hung and will be directed by Jim Wang.
Punjab ’95 has been removed from the lineup presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The film revolved around the story based on the life of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra.
Amazon-owned Prime Video has launched The Killing Vote, a hardboiled crime drama series from Korea. Directed by Park Shin-woo and written by Jo Yoon-young, the show is adapted from a popular webtoon National Death Penalty Vote by Uhm Se-yoon and Jung Yi-pum, which was published on Kakao Webtoon and KakaoPage. Production is by Pan Entertainment Studios. The show stars Park Hae-jin as a detective character, Park Sung-woong portrays a legal scholar, and Lim Ji-yeon portrays a lieutenant in the Police cyber security bureau. The show’s premise is that a text message is sent to ordinary citizens who get to vote for or against the application of the death penalty in individual criminal cases.
